The Restaurant: Chapter 23: Judging a Cooking Contest

Isekai Restaurant

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 23: Judging a Cooking Contest

______________________________________________________________________

- Silas -

I sat on a chair and watched the group cheering Milim and Fafnir on in a one vs one Street Fighter match.

We were having a tournament for Street Fighter games today and surprisingly, it was Milim and Fafnir in the semi-finals. On the other side were Rimuru and Ainz.

Saitama had lost earlier and was currently sitting beside me, sipping juice as he watched the game.

Milim finished off the match with an uppercut of her character.

“Uwahahahaha, I have won again.  Just wait for me, my double chocolate fudge cake. I will get you soon.” She laughed looking at the reward for the tournament, kept on the corner of the Restaurant.

The loser however wasn’t interested in the reward that much as he was depressed after losing the game.

Fafnir was a no-nonsense gamer. He enjoyed the food in the Restaurant as much as any other customer but his main focus was always games.

Milim, on the other hand, liked food better than most customers who visited the Restaurant. In fact, she was third in the list after Irene-san and Mana-san.

I found out the reason for her obsession with food too and unlike the previous two… it was hilarious.

Apparently, she had a whole kingdom she ran and the people of the kingdom worshiped her. Her title as the Destroyer was not for show or something which she used to brag about either. It was real.

Her worshippers are called the Dragon Faithful and they took care of her daily needs, food, cleaning and all that.

These guys however… were a believer of eating raw food or something as that was all they served her. She didn’t like it much but didn’t alway reject it so as to keep them from feeling hurt.

But due to this, she rarely had good food.

…what stupidity…

I had the urge to facepalm at the whole thing.

We took a drinks break before the finals.

“Has everything been prepared?” Ainz asked, having finished his match too. “The Comiket is very important for the whole publishing house. We have to make the best impression.”

“Oh… so what are you guys planning to do?” I asked, interested in the topic.

“Cosplay.” Came the joint answer from both of them. “We are doing cosplay.”

“...isn’t that something you were going to do either way?” I asked with a deadpan.

“Yes and?” Rimuru asked, confused.

“Hmph, you are still green, Silas. Obviously we are going to cosplay the characters from the manga we launch. In fact, not just us, several others will be doing the same. In fact you should do the same.”

“Eh… I am not sure about that.” I denied.

“Oh come on, it will be fun!” Rimuru said, looking excited.

“Fun! What fun are you guys talking about?” Milim jumped in the conversation too.

And the conversation started about which character they were going to cosplay as. It was during this time that the door to the Restaurant opened and a couple of new faces entered.

It was a group of four people.

The first was a boy. He had brown hair and green eyes. He wore a gold-trimmed green mantle, white shirt, pants, and leather boots. The oddest thing was the short sword he was wearing on his belt. With him were three girls. One had blue coloured hair and eyes. The other was a blonde woman wearing armour and the last one was wearing a wizard costume… with an eyepatch.

“A Restaurant. I didn’t know there would be a Restaurant outside the city. Great, I am tired after today’s quest. Order some beer for me, Kazuma…” her words stopped as her gaze stuck on Ainz. “Undead?”

The other two girls froze a bit at her words and then quickly went into a defensive position as they caught a glimpse of Ainz. Today, Ainz was not in the private room due to the game tournament and he wasn’t even wearing the mask as he was drinking juice so his bony face was clear for everyone to see.

I was about to stop them and explain the situation to them when I noticed something odd. The boy… He was gazing towards our group… no, more specifically, he was gazing at Fafnir or rather the console in his hands.

“That’s… a Gameboy Advance!”

“Hah! Kazuma! Look there, it’s an undead. Eh, a demon, a dragon and what is a slime doing there. What kind of dungeon is this?”

“A dungeon made to look like a Restaurant to lure innocent adventurers into a trap, how insidious.” The blonde girl said as she started breathing heavily, her face flushing red.

…was she sick?

“Oi, is that really a Gameboy Advance? And there, is that a DS? Does this dungeon drop video games?” The boy drew his sword and looked ready to start fighting while my eyes twitched.

Fafnir looked like he was getting annoyed too so I decided to intervene before these guys were cursed to death.

“This is not a dungeon.” I said stepping up.

“Lies. Do you think I will believe the lies of a demon? Hmph, I am a real goddess, not a fool.” The blue haired girl puffed her chest as she interrupted my words.

“A Goddess…”

“Aqua, this is not the time for your jokes. We need to get out of here. There are too many high level monsters in this dungeon. It would be very bad if they were to invade Axel. They would destroy the town and kill all the men and capture the women and hah hah…” The blonde woman was breathing harder and harder, her face flushing deep red.

Seriously, what kind of crazy thoughts was she having?

Thankfully, Sakura stepped up to clear the situation.

“Umm, this place is really not a dungeon.”

“A Gameboy drop!” The boy however jumped directly towards Fafnir, his sword drawn before Sakura could complete her words.

I sighed and snapped my fingers, halting his jump in the middle. Even the three girls’ powers were dispelled.

“Wha!”

“How did you?”

“I… I can’t move. What did you do, demon?” The blonde girl questioned. “I… you may have defeated me but I will never give up. Even if you t-torture me, I will never betray my faith. You can break my body… hah hah… but you will never break my heart.”

…

…

…

…

I looked at the girl with an open mouth.

Oi oi, what is going on in that head of yours?

And even if something crazy is going on in there, keep it to yourself. Why are you saying it out loud?

Her words, especially when matched with her laboured breaths and flushed red face made the whole scene look really bad.

If anyone didn’t know the whole situation, they would totally think we were some kind of disgusting villains. Hell, I hadn’t even said a single bad thing let alone do something and yet, I was feeling awkward.

Even Rimuru and Saitama looked at me oddly for a moment… why are you two looking at me like that? I didn’t do anything, ya know. You all saw what was going on…

Thankfully, before things could get any worse, Sakura-chan saved the day.

She calmly explained the whole situation to the group.

In that time, Tohru had come out of the kitchen too and verified that the blue haired girl was indeed a goddess… or at least she felt like one.

“So… you people… are reincarnated humans?” the boy, now introduced as Kazuma Satou, asked and he held a console lovingly in his hands. Ainz had given the guy the console after he told us about how he had been working in the other world and hadn’t seen or played any video games in months, almost a year.

He even had tears in his eyes and looked so pitiful that Ainz gave him an extra console and Rimuru added some games.

We found out that Kazuma was also a reincarnated human who was sent to a different world after death.

Huh… my Restaurant was really becoming a stop for Isekai characters.

“Yes.” Ainz nodded.

“All of you?”

“No, only Rimuru and Ainz. There is another one but she is not here right now.” I replied.

“Then how did you become a lich and a slime? Oi Aqua, did you just throw them into other worlds?” Kazuma shouted towards the blue haired Goddess who was shoving every bit of food in her mouth and looked more like a blue haired squirrel than a goddess she was.

…

They had calmed down quite a bit after talking to Sakura.

We found out their names.

The Goddess was called Aqua. The weird blonde warrior was Darkness. The magician was called Megumin and looked like she was a chunni… but that was more or less a norm in the Restaurant so she didn’t look out of place.

Huh… was it just me or was I getting used to some really weird stuff lately?

Those two girls looked around the place curiously. In fact, it turns out that they didn’t even know that Aqua was a Goddess either. This was obviously not due to the lack of her claiming to be one… but rather her unreliability.

I know now why I didn’t feel that she was a Goddess when I first saw her. It was because this girl… she was really just… useless.

“What do you mean by throwing us in other worlds?” Ainz asked, his eyes shining red.

“What else? Aqua was the one incharge of assigning people to different worlds and giving them their cheats before I brought her with myself. Was she skipping work or did you two just get screwed over by another Goddess?” He asked.

These words caused both the slime and the lich to look at the Goddess with a dead look on their faces.

…oh boy.

I had seen that look.

“Oh… is she now?” Rimuru asked, his voice a deadpan. “Come to think of it, I did hear a female voice when I was about to die…”

“Yes yes. She reincarnated me… more like tricked me until I turned it around and claimed her as my cheat… dammit, I shouldn’t have done that. A bad decision… I would have been much better off choosing some cool weapon or Skill like that bastard Kyoya. Anyways, she is totally the Goddess incharge of reincarnating humans, at least from Japan.”

“Well… I didn’t hear anything so I will hold my opinions for now.” Ainz backed off, but his gaze didn’t leave the Goddess.

“Hmm, not to mention there are so many different versions of Japan in the multiverse. Who knows if you were all from the same world or not.” I added, to calm Rimuru down.

Thankfully, Rimuru had learned to not make any assumptions after accidentally devouring that zombie God-thing… from Tanya’s world.

“Eh… reincarnating you as a slime? No, I don’t remember anything like that. We normally just pick up normal human shut-ins with dreams of isekai and throw them into other worlds with a cheat but they need to get their agreement from them too or we are not allowed to reincarnate them. Obviously, that would mean meeting them face to face. Anyways, I have been with Kazuma for a long time now so maybe it was someone else who slacked off their duties? Who is taking care of my department nowadays? Hmm, is it a tenshi or maybe Iris?”

…

So it was another dud…

Rimuru looked pacified… or at least he was till the girl opened her mouth again.

“But still, you two were suckered really bad, weren’t you? A slime and an elder lich hahahaha. Normally otakus like you keep yapping about harems when they talk about isekai but you became a slime and a lich… You don’t even have a dick hahahaha.”

…

I had to physically stop Rimuru from jumping at the Goddess and biting her head off.

“Hmph, big words from a useless Goddess. What kind of Goddess gets eaten by frogs?” Kazuma jumped in suddenly. “And what is wrong with being otakus, huh? Didn’t you get tricked by me to become my cheat item?”

…

Ouch…

This intervention also prevented the Goddess from being targeted by the angry lich and slime. But seriously… this woman had no filters at all.

“I am sorry about her words, Ainz-san, Rimuru-san.” Kazuma apologised.

The apology worked, calming the situation.

Really, this girl was nothing like a Goddess.

All that awe after seeing Lucoa-san was gone.

Kazuma seemed to like the Restaurant a lot and was getting along surprisingly well with both Ainz and Rimuru.

I guess him jumping to his fellow otaku’s defense earned him a lot of goodwill from the two who had inadvertently been roasted by the goddess.

The atmosphere calmed down soon. It seems that our resistance to crazy has been boosted recently.

Milim won the tournament.

It was more like Ainz threw the game when Milim used her cute dragon eyes attack.

That had to be some kind of magic or skill by itself.

She was however more interested in the cake than winning the game itself, something she finished off by herself.

Rimuru took her away as no one wanted to deal with Milim on a sugar high.

It was when the shop was about to be closed that something unexpected happened.

Kisuke arrived with carrot-top… Ichigo, Ikki and another guy. No, arrived would be the wrong word. He was carrying those two.

“What happened, Kisuke-san?” I asked quickly as I cleared a couch for them to rest.

“The kids messed with someone they shouldn’t have. Anyways, I could heal them up but that would take some time and the Restaurant was near so I was wondering if I could borrow some of that potion from Rimuru-kun.”

“Rimuru just left a while ago. May I check his wound? I can try using Jujutsu to heal him.” I offered.

“I am afraid their injuries are more related to souls. Can your Jujutsu heal the soul?”

“I… don’t think so. Let me get the potion. I have some on hand too. Sakura-chan, can you get the potion from my room please?” I’d rather not take any risks.

Sakura nodded and was about to leave when Kazuma stopped her.

“Wait a moment. For these kinds of things, you don’t need to be afraid. We have a specialist for these things.” He patted his chest and then looked at the Goddess who was currently drinking and lazing around. That woman was far too comfortable in the so-called demon’s den, her words not mine. “Oi Aqua, time to work. Heal them quickly.”

“Hahahaha so you finally realised my greatness over these demons and undead, Crapzuma. Very well, I, being the kind hearted Goddess, will forgive you and lend you a hand.” She got up with a flourish, carrying a bit of grace which would have fooled me if I hadn’t seen her behave earlier.

“Quit fooling around and heal them. They look like they will die.”

“Hmph, then watch. Sacred Highness Heal!”

A light wrapped around the three boys and in front of our astonished eyes, their bodies healed up and a few moments later, they opened their eyes.

“See… how could these demons and liches compare to the power of a Goddess? Now do you realis…” She was pushed aside by Kazuma before she made a bigger fool of herself and we too ignored her, concentrating on the more urgent matter.

Kisuke checked them and gave us a thumbs up. “Fully healed. That was some impressive piece of… what was that again? I haven’t seen them around before. New guests?” he asked with a glint in his eyes.

And the mad scientist was back once more.

“Don’t bother. Despite her weird behaviour, that girl is a Goddess. I think she deals with reincarnations or something.”

“A Goddess?”

“Yes. Anyways, how did they get injured like this?”

“That is a long story…”

He told us the whole story. That girl, Rukia had apparently broken some laws of the Shinigami world by giving her powers to Ichigo to save his life.

This caused her to lose her powers temporarily but even then she couldn’t return back in time. That’s why the Shinigami sent people to get her back to have her tried.

Ichigo, being the rash idiot, jumped in to save her and Ikki followed him to lend a hand. The last kid was already down by the time they had reached there. Apparently, one of their opponents was a bigshot among Shinigami and thus their injuries. 

I had the urge to facepalm at the carrot-head’s actions but then again, I probably would have done the same for someone who saved my life. I suddenly had a slight bit of respect for him.

As we were discussing, the three stooges woke up too.

“So, what will happen to her?” I asked.

“If things were normal, she would be sentenced to a few hundred years of prison time but…”

“Things aren’t normal, are they?” Ainz asked, making us look at him. He continued. “Your story… it has far too many coincidences… almost like the plot of an anime. Now if this were an anime, it could have been believable but in real life… I guess not.”

“I would like to say that real life is stranger than fiction but unfortunately in this situation, things are exactly as you say.”

“I want to go and save Rukia.” Ichigo said, looking determined.

“I… want to help too.” Ikki added.

As expected of the shounen protagonist.

“Can we lend a hand?” I offered.

“That… would be too much. I still have some friends over there and can get their assistance. It would be better if you all didn’t interfere lest matters escalated unnecessarily.” He waved it off.

I still gave him some potions which Sakura had brought back to help and he left with the three guys.

Other guests left one by one too while Lavy and Shuna returned.

They were getting the final preparations ready for the Comiket.

___________________________________x__________________________________

“Will she be okay?” Orihime asked, worried when she found out about the situation too.

“Kisuke looked pretty calm so he probably had his own considerations. Don’t worry. He might look unreliable but he is pretty good when push comes to shove. Moreover, Ikki went with them too. They will be fine.” I reassured her.

She still looked absent minded and this made Lavy cheer her up.

Things happened and Lavy went on to sleep with Orihime in her room, leaving her original roommate, Shuna with me.

I wasn’t complaining.

Recently, I had grown very comfortable with Shuna too.

I pulled back from our daily good night kiss, a strand of saliva handing between our lips.

She had become very good at kissing, the fruits of daily practice.

I looked at her blushing face, the darkness of the room doing nothing to hide it from my devil eyes and pulled her on top of me, her legs on either side of mine. She yelped in surprise at my action but didn’t move away. My hand slid down from her back to her bottom, taking a feel of her soft ass while her blush deepened.

One of my hands combed her hair, while she lay on top of me when I felt her horn on my fingers.

I had met many oni during the past month and each person had different types of horns. Some had one, like Shion while some had two, like Shuna and her brother. Even the colour and size of their horns were different.

Shion and Benimaru’s horns were black, and looked… powerful. Shuna’s horns on the other hand were pure white and looked… divine.

Curiously, I traced her horns and she shivered lightly.

“What? Is there something wrong?” I asked, surprised at her action.

“I-it’s nothing.” She whispered shyly.

“Hmm.”

“Umm… for us ogres and oni, horns are very important. It’s a symbol of pride. They are also… very private. Girls of the ogre and oni tribes don’t allow other males to touch them until they are very important to them.”

“Oh… Umm… I am sorry if I…”

“No… Silas-sama can touch my horns. We only allow our… partners to touch our horns.” She whispered.

“Eh…” After a moment of surprise, a smile lit my face. “Well, then I can’t let this opportunity go to waste. I need to inspect your horns properly.”

With that, I turned her over, getting on top of her, both her legs on either side of me while my length pressed directly over her core.

I leaned in slowly and captured her lips while she melted into my kiss.

___________________________________x__________________________________

“Really! You guys are planning to do cosplay at the Comiket?” Kazuma asked, hyped up at the news.

He has been visiting us daily, mainly to play games. He had also bought several things from Japan to sell in his world and it seems that he was actually doing good.

Kazuma got along quite well with Ainz, Rimuru and especially Fafnir, something which surprised everyone.

The day after tomorrow was the Comiket and the day of the launch of the Crossroads Publications and our future business.

And both Rimuru and Ainz were really hyped about the whole thing.

In fact, Ainz had already created the costumes for everyone using his magic. Rimuru had created stuff for the entire staff for the day after tomorrow.

“Yes. What better way to attract attention to our manga characters than to cosplay as them?” Rimuru cheered.

“Ohhhh… I have seen the news of the Comiket on the internet.”

“Internet? Have you never been to the Comiket before?” Ainz asked.

Even I was a bit surprised as by now we knew that Kazuma was a hardcore otaku so it was surprising that he hadn’t gone there yet.

“I… preferred staying… indoors…”

“Ahahahaha why don’t you say it clearly that you were a shut-in neet!” The annoying Goddess chimed in.

…

…

…

…

Seriously, everytime this Goddess opened her mouth, someone was tempted to burst her head with a stray magic spell. The only reason they didn’t was because… she was quite good at party tricks… and her magic was quite useful. Also, she wasn’t shy about using magic to help others.

Like, she had helped Fafnir get an SSR card in one of his games by casting a Spell which boosted his Luck.

Due to this, we saw something which even Tohru called a Miracle.

The Curse Dragon Fafnir, the ultimate form of a hikikomori gamer, someone who hated all races except dragons and even them, he only tolerated… thanked Aqua.

But now hearing about Kazuma being a former Hikkikomori, it made sense that he got along so well with Fafnir.

There were obviously some who thought it was just a fluke but Aqua proved it again. Her spell was actually genuine.

Just when we started looking at her in awe, she started bragging and offering her services for free drinks and money… and just like that all our awe was down the drain.

It was another thing that everyone offered to buy her drinks to get blessed by her for greater luck.

The gamers saw a drastic improvement in performance while Tanya went ahead and started finding ways to exploit this. The first thing we did was send some of the girls to get blessed and then buy lotteries in our world.

That girl… is a hardcore businesswoman.

Lavy went to book the spot where we can put up the counter for Crossroad Publications at the Comiket and it just so happened to be a lottery system.

We got the best spot available in our zone.

On a side note, Shuna and Sakura got five million yen in their lottery winnings.

Ainz however just patted Kazuma’s shoulder reassuringly. “It’s the first time for me too.”

Ainz had never attended any in his world because there was no Comiket in his world… or at least in his time. With the amount of shit that world had, the reason he even knew was because of the internet and now that he had the chance, he was not going to miss anything anymore.

Rimuru on the other hand had a completely new identity and no reason to hide his hobbies from his co-workers anymore so he was going all out instead of a casual visit.

And just like that, the guy cheered up.

“So whom are you guys cosplaying as?” I asked.

“Ainz will be playing as Alphonse Elric and I will be Inuyasha.” Rimuru announced.

“Then… I will go with Joseph Joestar.” Kazuma announced, making poses.

“And me? What will I be going as?” Milim raised her hand and we looked at her. Ainz thought for a moment and raised a hand and within moments, a full set of Sailor Moon costumes was ready, all with the magic wand and Kyubey plushie.

She quickly went into one of the private rooms to try out her new costume.

“Wahahahaha I, Magical Girl Milim Nava have arrived! Ah… I will go and practice the song and dance.” And just like that, she ran away to watch Sailor Moon.

…

“And what will you be going as, Silas-san?” Kazuma asked.

“Me? I’ll pass.” I waved my hand. No way I was going to go out there dressed like that.

“No way.”

“That won’t do.”

“Rejected, you need to go too.”

Everyone suddenly jumped on me as if I hadn’t rejected cosplaying and instead rejected making the cure of cancer.

It took almost an hour of repeated arguments before I relented.

“Okay okay… I agree. I will cosplay too.”

“Great!”

“Which character? You will need the costume.” Ainz asked.

…

I thought for a while and decided to go with…

“Lelouch vi. Britannia.”

“Oh! Yeah, that would look good on you.”

“Hmm.” The actual reason I chose that was because I could simply wear Lelouch’s school uniform and look normal.

“Great! Let me make the costume then” Ainz however, saw through my plan and made the costume… Lelouch’s Zero’s costume… without a helmet.

I need to learn that magic.

Apparently Daemons from Rimuru’s world also had a Skill called Material Creation, something I had gained when I was named. Too bad, I didn’t have much time to learn more about it. Just another thing to keep in the list of things to learn.

“Okay, now that everyone has decided on what they want to wear, I have to go and get ready.” I got up.

“Going somewhere?” Rimuru asked.

“Yes. I have been invited by Nakiri-san to be a judge at a cooking competition for the students of his school. Setsuno-san and Jiro-san will be arriving here in an hour. I need to get ready before that.”

“Oh, a judge.” With that they went back to the discussion.

“Hmm, I had asked Sanzaemon-san if he knew somewhere I could hire some staff for my Restaurant. Coincidentally, Setsuno-san and Jiro-san were also in the Restaurant at the time. We were all invited over to his School. There was some sort of competition going on and he wanted to show us his students by having us taste their food as judges. I can then decide whom I want to select to work for me. He was quite excited about the whole thing. Apparently, his school is quite famous in his world.”

“Great. Have a good day.”

“Umm.”

__________________________________x___________________________________

The door to the Restaurant opened and Grandma Setsuno and Jiro-san entered.

"Hohohoho are you excited to see the youngsters of a different world cook as well, Silas? I have been wondering how the new world would look since I got the invitation." Jiro-san laughed.

Today, he was dressed much differently than his normal style. He wore a blue jacket and black trousers while Grandma Setsuno was in her usual pink attire.

"Yes. It's always a fun experience to go to a new world. Till now, I have only been to supernatural worlds but apparently Nakiri-san's world is quite normal. So I don't think you will be able to see any good ingredients."

"Hahahaha good food is cooked when people pour their hearts into it. After all, what's better than sitting around a dining table with your friends and family and sharing food with them." He said and laughed.

"Yes. I am more interested in seeing people, especially young children compete against each other, pushing each other to newer heights as they explore the flavours of the ingredients which they were blessed upon by the Gods." Setsuno-san smiled.

"Hmm very true. I packed in something as a gift for Sanzaemon-san as well." I said.

The guy was doing me a favour by helping me out with this. It was only natural that I did so.

"You are a good boy, Sil-chan." She smiled.

During this time, the door to the Restaurant opened again and this time it was Erina who came in followed by a purple haired girl.

"Good Evening Silas-sama, Setsuna-sama, Jiro-sama." She bowed politely to us.

I smiled remembering the girl's attitude when she first came to this Restaurant.

"Good Evening Erina-chan. And your friend is?"

"Yes. She is Hisako Arato, my aide." Erina introduced.

The girl bowed deeply. "My name is Hisako Arato. Pleased to make your acquaintance." She greeted us.

"Hohohoho what a polite child. Don't be so formal. We are just an old couple who want to taste some good food today. Just treat us as such."

We followed Erina into a limo outside the Restaurant door.

"This looks like Tokyo. Outer areas." I said, looking around the area.

"Yes. Our Academy owns this area." Erina answered.

"Can you tell me something about this Academy, Erina-chan?" Grandma Setsuno asked.

I too paid attention as this might be helpful to me to understand things better.

- Senzaemon Nakiri -

He stood in front of the group of selected students and staff, each the best of their own fields. The Elite Ten and the three finalists of the Autumn Festival.

Beside him were Gin Dojima and behind the curtains stood another person he hadn't thought he would see in a while but had invited nonetheless and was happily surprised..

"My dear Staff and Students. Today, I have come to present you with a once in a lifetime opportunity." He began loudly.

The start of the speech attracted the attention of everyone present in the room.

"You are all the best of the best which our Academy can offer the leaders of the next generation of the food industry all over the world in this, there is no doubt."

The students paid attention and he continued.

"But the opportunity you can win today is something any chef in this world can only dream of."

Murmurs ran through the place.

"You might not gain name, fame or even immense riches during this" He observed the disinterest appear on the faces of a few people at this but continued nonetheless, "but I, Nakiri Senzaemon, swear this on my name and the honour of the Nakiri Family that the experience you gain from this will be something no one else in this world can provide you with."

The room erupted in a cacophony of noises at his proclamation. He raised his hand and the room slowly calmed down. He continued.

"We are about to receive a few guests today. They are coming here to see the Academy and one of them is planning to choose a few students to work in his Restaurant. You all will be giving your best shot and presenting the guests with a dish of your choosing. The winners will be decided by the guests. Obviously, you are allowed to reject. No one will be forced to do anything against their wishes. I would still ask that you consider this opportunity seriously."

He dictated the terms of the performance and left the room.

"Just what is so special about this opportunity, old man? With that oath you just took, even I am curious now."

"Pay respect to the Director, Jōichirō." Gin scolded but he could see the curiosity in his eyes as well.

"They are an old couple and a young man who owns a small Restaurant."

"What?"

He then went on to explain what he had experienced and the mysterious place which the Crossroads Restaurant was to his close students.

"They might look simple but they are anything but. For the likes of us, they might as well be higher beings. Anyone who gets selected by them will be able to experience the ingredients and cooking styles of different worlds, of Chefs who can tear apart continents and planets just for the sake of cooking an ingredient, of worlds where cooking is everything. It's both a dream and a nightmare for Chefs like us."

"Are they dangerous?"

"They are strong but that doesn't always mean harmful. They are very humble and easy to get along with."

As he was explaining everything to them, the phone in the room rang. Erina had called to let them know that she had brought them to the Academy and they were heading over there.

"They are here. Get ready."

- Silas -

What the fuck is this place?

Isn't this too big for a cooking school?

I mean I knew Nakiri-san was a big deal, what with the limo and the food bills he offered so casually but I was of the thought that he probably owned other businesses or something and the Academy was only one of these establishments.

But as it turns out, this Academy was the best in the whole world.

Grandma Setsuno and Jiro-san didn't even blink an eye.

A pass rate of less than ten percent.

I guess this must be what people meant when they said 'Hell's Kitchen'.

We stopped in front of what looked like a huge auditorium.

"This is Chandra's Room. Please come in." Erina led us.

On the gates of the auditorium was a known face.

Mana Nakiri stood there waiting for us.

Erina went and joined her as she bowed lightly.

"Setsuna-sama, Jiro-sama, Silas-sama, please welcome to our humble Academy. We hope you will enjoy your time here." She greeted us.

The surrounding people all paused as if they were in a dream as they gawked at us or more precisely, the scene of Mana greeting us.

I guess it could be due to her being the daughter of the Academy's director.

We were led inside and the place was huge. It was in the form of a stadium where all the seats were already full of students and thirteen students stood in the middle of the stadium.

Nakiri-san and two other people welcomed us.

"We have arranged for an exhibition from our best students of this batch. I sincerely hope you will like them."

The exhibition started as we sat along with Nakiri-san and Gin-san. In the meanwhile he introduced us to another Chef, Jōichirō Yukihira.

That guy reminded me a lot of Rimuru in his happy go lucky style.

"What do you think of our students? Are they to your liking?" Nakiri-san asked.

"Hohohoho they are all so young and energetic, bursting with so much potential. If they are trained well and provided with good food, I can see some of them growing to much greater heights….in a few decades." Setsuno-san commented lightly.

"A few decades?" Gin asked.

I sensed he was more surprised than angry at what might be considered an offending statement on this occasion.

So I looked at Nakiri-san and asked, "Do they know?"

He nodded. "Gin is the Head Chef of the Nakiri Group of Hotels and a former student of mine. Both him and Jōichirō have been among the best this Academy has ever produced. I trust them fully."

"Good then." I turned towards them and explained. "This is a very high praise from Grandma Setsuno. In her world, people can live to great ages as long as they eat good and delicious food. A couple hundred years is really not an exaggeration. I know of people who have lived for thousands of years. To reach such a level in a few decades, don't you think this is a good enough praise for everyone?"

Their mouths were wide open at the reveal but none of them questioned anything.

Nakiri-san explained about the students and their speciality while we observed them.

Grandma Setsuno took a liking to a red haired girl who was currently gutting a baby alligator in a way which made me have weird feelings and not the bad sort of weird.

Apart from her, there was another guy with brown hair, who was cooking a traditional fish dish. Nakiri-san said that his family owned a traditional Japanese restaurant. His cooking style did have the hints of such an upbringing.

"Those two children." Grandma Setsuno pointed towards the red haired girl from earlier, Rindo Kobayashi and a red haired guy Soma Yukihara, who happened to be the son of Jōichirō. "They would flourish in our world. They seek adventure and ingredients to satisfy their curiosity. That child, on the other hand, will get people who genuinely appreciate his craft." She pointed to another one, a white- haired guy, Eishi Tsukasa. "He looks like the sort to completely dedicate himself to his craft. He would do well." She then turned towards Jōichirō. "You have a good son. He is blessed with great Food Luck." She commented, making us confused.

Jiro-san explained what Food Luck was. I wondered how Aqua’s blessing would work with that. He then asked me who I had taken a liking to.

"Isshiki Satoshi, Tōsuke Megishima and Ryō Kurokiba also look interesting. The first two are quite calm and that is a very good quality among chefs to have. The last one on the other hand is like a wild animal." I said before I realised what I had said. Thankfully, no one seemed to mind it.

"Hohohoho he is like Jiro-chan when he was young." Grandma Setsuno laughed, making everyone laugh as well. With the atmosphere lightened, I continued.

"He is not afraid to do what he wants. Which is exactly the opposite of Erina-san. Erina-san's cooking style is very meticulous but she… how do I say this? She is too stiff. As if she cannot accept anything else than what she knows as the rule. In a way, it narrows the scope of her creativity. Cooking is an art and an artist who has lost their creativity… has a very limited future. She will grow better if she were to grow out of this habit of hers."

"You noticed that too. Yes, the child will grow a lot if she can leave that habit of hers behind." Grandma Setsuna commented too.

Nakiri-san winced a little but nodded nonetheless. He was probably already aware of this. As for what they do, that was on them. The most we could do was offer advice.

Soon, the food was served.

And hot damn, these guys were talented.

I was kinda ashamed to even be judging them. They were far more talented than I would have been without the help of my Restaurant System. These people have reached this level of skill, at such a young age without any supernatural help… that alone was commendable. But right now, I was at a higher skill level than them. This was without a doubt. That’s why my advice would help them to improve. Only thinking of this I could bring myself to score them.

This was some of the best food I had ever eaten. Well as far as dishes made from normal ingredients could go.

We gave our verdict which was quite predictable.

The Elite Seats from number one to three won easily.

It was the lower side which changed things and caused some commotion.

"What nonsense is this? Are you telling me that my dish was inferior to these newbies?" A guy with blonde hair and glasses complained. "To begin with, who even are you three? Since you have entered this place, I have searched for you three but haven't found anything. Do you people even know about cooking?"

"Etsuya Eizan! You will hold your tongue." Nakiri-san got up angrily.

"Now now, Nakiri-chan, don't get so excited. It is only natural for people to complain when they don't understand their mistakes and think of something as unfair. Shouting loudly and reprimanding them won't solve the underlying problem. You are an educator. So, clear their doubts and make them understand the decision. And since I made such a decision, let me explain it to this child." Grandma Setsuno chided.

The man looked a bit embarrassed but then calmed down and apologised, while the rest of the crowd was gawking at her in stunned silence.

She turned towards the guy and continued. "Your dish was a salmon fish curry, am I right?"

"Yes." the boy answered gruffly.

"Coincidentally, the dish prepared by this other kid, Ryō Kurokiba, was also the same. So why was it that I graded him above you? The answer is simple. Your dish had eight hundred and sixty seven flaws compared to his."

"What!"

Several exclaims went up at her statement.

It seems Grandma Setsuno was angry and was about to teach the kid a lesson.

"That's nonsense!" The boy retorted.

I mean I know. Even I would have the same reaction if I didn't know the truth about who she was.

"Then let me list them out for you and show you how to make one correctly. Help me down, Sil-chan." I did and she walked towards the cooking platforms.

Nakiri-san quickly had the ingredients prepared for her.

And then she started schooling the school.

"First step towards filleting a salmon is speed. The longer you take, the more flavours are lost." She picked up a knife and a salmon and then just waved her hand. Or at least that's what it must have looked like to most of the people but I saw it.

Three hundred and forty four slashes in just a second. The fish fell to the table, with all the scales removed and each bone separated.

Even the pieces she had cut were precise to a fucking nanometer. And even then I had a feeling that she was doing this casually.

The entire hall descended into a period of silence and then a few moments erupted at the display of speed.

However things became silent when she spoke again. "You took eight minutes and nineteen seconds to prepare the fish and several slashes which were completely unnecessary. Not to mention, you let the fish lay outside for too long. Twenty three unnecessary and wrong steps. If you do not believe me, you can confirm it from the cameras. I am sure everyone was recorded."

I could practically hear the verbal slap on the guy's face.

"Next step would be to capitalise on the speed and quickly preserve the flavour."

Over the next eight minutes, she schooled the guy, recounting each and every one of his flaws.

By the time her dish was completed, the guy was on his knees, with a vacant look on his face.

And then she walked to him, her dish covered with a tray and revealed it to him.

The fish was shining.

It was fucking shining as if made from gold.

The aroma which burst out from the small dish covered the whole auditorium and even I found myself tempted.

"Here, taste this." She offered the guy who hesitated for a bit and took a bite.

The next moment, he dropped to his knees and cried. He actually started crying.

"All of you, have a try as well." She offered the judges and the participants the dish and I tried it and my mind was drowned in the flavours for a while.

I knew I was good but even I couldn't reach this level right now…  Maybe when the Restaurant System reached a higher level someday in the future.

Everyone had similar reactions without fail.

When we left the stadium, there was absolute silence. Even when the door had closed after us, there was still silence behind us.

We finished off the whole thing soon and moved into a private room, led by Nakiri-san. This time however, even the staff were following us, their postures humble as they followed us.

I took this chance to bring out my gift. "Thank you for entertaining us today, Nakiri-san. This is a small gift from me. I hope you like it."

I presented him with a big flask.

"What's this?"

"A little something I made for today."

He opened the cap of the flask and the aroma filled the room.

Even Grandma Setsuno looked at it in surprise. "Did you figure out the recipe, Sil-chan?"

"I was lucky to come across it."

Nakiri-san took the opportunity to pour the content into several bowls. A small aurora appeared on the bowls when the soup settled.

The people in the room except the three of us gained dopey grins as they drank the soup before realising that they had finished it.

"Century Soup. I have been trying to figure out the recipe for so long. This tastes exactly like the one we had tasted years ago. Good job."

The rest of the bowls were given to the participants and I offered them a position in my shop. Although I asked for an interview with them first.

Working in my Restaurant was not something anyone could survive. I needed to know their personality too and see if they could adjust to the Restaurant.

All of them were still students and were thus only permitted to work part time at different timings and that too because Nakiri-san made an exception for them.

If any of them wanted to, they could join the shop later on when they finish their studies or even follow Grandma Setsuno to her world and learn more about cooking.

Jōichirō-san meanwhile was very interested in my Restaurant and offered to help out for a while.

I accepted.

- Rimuru -

“Is everything ready?” He asked Ainz and his friend nodded in agreement.

“Yes. Everything has been prepared.”

“We need to get him this time for sure. We won’t get this chance ever again. Silas is not the kind to fall for the same trap twice. Not to mention he would make our lives absolute hell if we fail.”

“Don’t worry. I have thrown in top quality premium items from Yggdrasil to make sure he won’t have a chance to escape. We are not going to fail.”

“Just in case, don’t forget to get Aqua’s blessing. That annoying Goddess has at least something she is good at. We will need every bit of luck.”

“Umm… you guys… don’t you think it’s a bit too much? Silas isn’t that bad.” Suddenly Saitama spoke from the side.

He looked at their bald friend with a pitying gaze.

Saitama… was probably the simplest of them all.

Oh, you poor naive fool.

How can they miss such a chance after waiting for so long?

“Saitama…” Ainz started to speak but he put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. Ainz stopped and Rimuru looked at Saitama.

“Say Saitama, did you know Silas was planning to give you a surprise gift next month on your birthday?”

“Silas was? Ah, I knew it. Silas is a very good friend. You all are being too much here.”

Even Ainz looked at him confused at where he was going with this.

“Oh… is that so. Do you know what that gift is?”

“What?”

“A comb.”

…

…

…

…

“Do you two need any help in the plan?”

Rimuru smiled widely.

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Beta Note: The advance chapters are in order of what is updated, a first Tier will not get 2 advanced chapters for every story, only the next two to be released.

Beta Reader: @LuluViBritania (FF.N, SB, WN and QQ)/-LuluViB|99th Britannian Emperor(Discord)

Author’s Note:

I am back with another chapter of ‘Isekai Restaurant’.

We have new guests.

Kazuma and his gang are here.

The guy deserved some break from the antics of his team and he has found exactly the place for that.

Aqua is as annoying as ever but the Restaurant goers have even found a use for her as a Luck Blessing Counter.

We had a visit to the Totsuki Academy. Grandma Stesuno schooled an unruly kid and gave the whole Academy a lesson in humility. Jōichirō would be joining the kitchen soon. There would be some students for the Stagiaire in the Restaurant later.

Finally, next chapter will be the Comiket.

P.S. What exactly are Rimuru, Ainz and Saitama planning?

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.